


How Will It Feel When It's Time To Move On?

by shesbreathless



Series: schmico codas [20]
Category: Grey's Anatomy
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, M/M, Moving In Together, maybe not who knows, post 16x12
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-09
Updated: 2020-02-09
Packaged: 2021-02-28 05:20:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,586
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22639117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shesbreathless/pseuds/shesbreathless
Summary: Breathe in, breathe out. His stomach balloons and then deflates like it’s supposed to. His head is heavy against Nico’s thighs, and his heat warms him up in a way that he’s pleasantly familiar with by now. Breathe in, breathe out.“It will all be fine, yeah?” Levi asks after a while.Nico smiles. “As always.”
Relationships: Nico Kim/Levi Schmitt
Series: schmico codas [20]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1285922
Comments: 20
Kudos: 200





	How Will It Feel When It's Time To Move On?

Levi drops the last of his bags on the floor and stops. Shoulders heavy and eyes pulled down into a sad expression, he just stops and takes a deep breath.

Nico must hear the front door close behind him, because after a couple of seconds he pops his head through the doorway to the living room and smiles encouragingly. “All done?”

“Yeah,” Levi sighs.

While packing up all of his belongings, Levi realized that he has less to his name than he thought. On one hand it made moving all of it way easier, but on the other it makes him kind of sad, knowing that this is all he has in the world.

Well, maybe he has something else as well, Levi thinks as Nico’s hands come into view to pick up the last box of random stuff and take it into the living room.

“Are you hungry?” his voice carries through.

Levi looks down at his feet and laughs quietly, shaking his head as he tries to smother the feeling bubbling in his stomach.

Except he doesn’t have to push it down. He gets to feel anything he might happen to feel, and it’s okay. That’s the lesson from this horrible day. Hell, this whole past month.

“You know what?” he answers as he follows the sound of socked feet shuffling on the floor. “I am. I’m starving.”

“What would you like?” Nico immediately perks up. “I can make us some pasta, or I just bought a-“

He gets interrupted by Levi stepping up in front of him and lifting himself on the tips of his toes to wrap his arms around Nico’s neck, burying his face into his shoulder.

“Can we order something? You did so much for me already.”

Nico squeezes Levi into a tight hug, rubbing a hand up and down his back a couple of times.

“It’s the least I could do,” he mumbles against the side of Levi’s head.

“It’s not,” Levi rubs his thumbs against the back of Nico’s head. “I don’t take it for granted. So, you know. Thank you.”

Nico breathes out a quiet laugh. “You’re welcome. So, pizza?”

Levi pulls back and grins, the tip of his nose brushing Nico’s. “You know me so well.”

He does know him exceptionally well, which is why, as he looks up the delivery number on his phone, he explicitly forbids Levi from lifting anything heavier than a pillow before he can even think about it. Levi rolls his eyes, but he secretly loves how much Nico is willing to take care of everything for him.

He’s waiting for the moment it will inevitably go from cute to annoying, but it doesn’t look like it’s going to happen anytime soon.

“Get some french fries as well!” Levi shouts at Nico’s back as he moves into the kitchen with his phone held between his ear and his shoulder.

Nico winks at him, then turns his attention to the person answering the phone, and disappears into the other room. Which leaves Levi on his own for the first time all day. All week, maybe.

It takes barely more than two minutes for Nico to make the call and come back, but Levi still manages to work himself into a flurry of stormy thoughts in the meantime.

Sadness, guilt, a small trace of residual surprise, and just a drop of pride run around his head, leaving Levi to try and separate them from one another to make sense of them, but with no success. It’s too much in too little time, and he’s also way too tired to deal with all of it, so he doesn’t.

He drops his head back to lie against the top of the couch and takes a breath, then another one, and another one after that. Slowly the heavy weight on his stomach lifts up, relief smoothing Levi’s expression.

Nico comes back into the room quietly, but Levi still hears the sound of his feet on the floor. He must have taken his socks off. Levi is sure that he’ll find them somewhere they definitely shouldn’t be in the morning, but that’s a problem for another time.

“How are you feeling?” Nico asks quietly, leaning with his hands on each side of Levi’s head.

Levi opens his eyes and looks up at Nico and his upside-down smile. “I am feeling,” he answers.

Nico hums. “That’s good.”

“How are _you_ feeling?” Levi asks back.

“I like seeing all your stuff in here.”

It’s not an actual answer to the question, but it’s enough of one to satisfy Levi. It makes him match his smile, but it still makes something uneasy spring up inside of him.

“Do you want me to move in?” he murmurs.

Nico brushes the hair on Levi’s forehead back and runs his fingers through the front of it. “Do you want to move in?”

“I asked first.”

“It’s not up to me to decide,” Nico shrugs. “But yeah, I would like you to.”

Levi can’t hide the way that makes him smile properly. He reaches up and grabs the back of Nico’s neck, pulling him down so that he can give him an upside-down kiss. It’s just a pressing of lips against lips, but it’s sweet and something that makes him feel comfortable and safe, so it’s perfect.

“Can I think about it?” Levi finally asks, dropping a kiss on Nico’s chin.

Nico moves back, kissing Levi’s forehead as he goes, and stands up straight. “Of course. There’s no rush,” he nods, hands on his hips as he straightens his back.

“Okay,” Levi says, voice small. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. But stop saying it,” Nico rounds the couch and sits next to him, their shoulders pressed against each other. “Pizza will be here in thirty minutes. It’s rush hour, they said.”

Levi nods, then they fall into a comfortable silence, both of them staring straight in front of them at the black tv screen.

If he focuses enough, Levi can see their reflection. He smiles to himself as he lets his head fall against the outside of Nico’s shoulder. Taryn had told him once that they look ridiculous next to each other, so different in every way. Levi likes to think that that’s one of the best parts of them as a couple.

“I feel like I should be crying right now,” Levi whispers after a while.

“You can if you need to.”

Levi’s heart feels like it swells to three times its size.

“No, that’s the thing,” he tilts his head back to look Nico in the eyes. “I think I cried all my tears already. I’m just happy.”

“Yeah?” Nico hints at a smile.

“Yeah,” Levi confirms. Then, as if he’d just remembered, “I love you.”

Lines appear by Nico’s eyes, a happy glint in them. He leans in and quickly kisses Levi, then mumbles right against his lips. “I love you too.”

Levi rubs their noses together, then kisses the corner of Nico’s lips and pulls back. There are a million things he could do as they wait for their food to get here, like start to sort through his stuff and see what he wants to leave here even if he doesn’t end up moving in, but he mostly just wants a cuddle.

He turns around, scoots down the cushion a bit, then leans back to prop his head on Nico’s lap. Nico immediately slides his fingers in his hair, tugging gently on a few strands and scratching his nails around his ears.

Sleep starts tugging at Levi’s eyelids pretty soon, especially after the day he’s had, but he doesn’t want to give in to it so soon. He reaches up and grabs Nico’s bicep, hands sliding down to his forearm and then his wrist, pulling Nico’s arm to hug it against his chest.

“I can’t decide if everything has changed or if everything is exactly the same,” Levi mumbles.

Nico hums and rubs the back of Levi’s head with his free hand. “I think it depends.”

“On what?” Levi looks up at the shape of the underside of Nico’s jawline.

“Some things have changed, some haven’t,” Nico shrugs. “That’s how it is.”

Levi bursts out laughing, turning into full-on cackling when he sees the confused expression on Nico’s face.

“What?” Nico asks, chuckling but obviously not understanding why. “It wasn’t funny.”

Hiding his face into Nico’s belly and curling up into himself, Levi laughs so much that his eyes well up with tears and his voice gets wheezy when he tries to explain himself. He might be a bit hysterical at this point, but it feels too good to care right now.

Nico is patient as Levi slowly calms down, watching him with an amused expression and rubbing a hand slowly up and down his back.

“Sorry,” Levi finally says breathlessly. “It’s just how resigned it sounded. It caught me off guard.”

He sighs and stretches his arms up and behind his head, tightening his muscles and then releasing all of them at once, then rubs his hands over his face.

“I’m in such a weird mood,” Levi mumbles.

Nico shrugs one shoulder and presses his index finger to the bottom of Levi’s ribcage, the rest of his fingers following the path down to his bellybutton. The soft touches are not enough to be ticklish, so Levi just follows the lazy movement with his eyes.

Breathe in, breathe out. His stomach balloons and then deflates like it’s supposed to. His head is heavy against Nico’s thighs, and his heat warms him up in a way that he’s pleasantly familiar with by now. Breathe in, breathe out.

“It will all be fine, yeah?” Levi asks after a while.

Nico smiles. “As always.”

Levi bites his lower lip and looks up at Nico with a question written in his eyes. Nico just looks back at him, the tips of his fingers sliding under the hem of Levi’s shirt to touch the skin of his lower belly.

“Why- no, how,” Levi starts, then corrects himself. “How are you so… so…”

“So?”

“You know,” Levi huffs. “Don’t make me spell it out.”

Nico leans down and drops a sideways kiss on Levi’s lips, then stays close enough that when he talks their lips brush against each other.

“I do know,” he grins. “But I won’t give up the opportunity to hear you compliment me.”

Levi rolls his eyes, but still grabs Nico by the back of his neck and keeps him close to his face. He bites Nico’s lower lip, then kisses it to chase the sting of pain away. He might look like he’s avoiding actually talking, but he’s just looking for the right words.

“I’ve been through the weirdest couple of weeks, what with the Dr. Grey thing, the fact that my friends hated me, and now this stuff with my family…” he whispers, looking anywhere but in Nico’s eyes. “And you’ve been great. Amazing, even.”

“I really didn’t do much,” Nico tries, but Levi immediately shakes his head.

“You were there for me. Always, no questions asked. That’s…” Levi chuckles, eyes suspiciously teary. “That means a lot.”

Nico presses his forehead against Levi’s. “I’m your boyfriend. That’s what boyfriends do.”

“No, that’s what great boyfriends do,” Levi corrects him. “So many other people would have dipped out on me.”

“I’m not other people.”

Levi smiles and tilts his head to the side to properly kiss Nico, hands cradling each side of his face, thumbs rubbing against his cheeks.

“And I am glad for that every single day,” he mumbles against Nico’s lips.

Nico makes a pleased noise and coaxes Levi’s lips open to deepen the kiss, fingers moving all over his chest, his stomach, his side, lightly tickling his ribs.

“That was sappy for you,” Nico comments, trying and failing to hide his laughter.

“Shut up,” Levi grumbles. “Move.”

He flexes his abs to sit up, but Nico complains and keeps him where he is, kissing the side of his lips.

“C’mon,” Levi pats the side of his face. “Let me get up.”

“Why?” Nico whines exaggeratedly.

“Because your back is gonna start hurting if you stay in this position for much longer,” Levi rolls his eyes.

Nico’s eyes sparkle with something that goes unsaid, but they both feel it. It settles heavy on Levi’s stomach, but it’s a welcome, reassuring weight.

“We’re disgusting,” he decides.

“Revolting,” Nico agrees.

They smile at each other openly, nothing to hide, open book stage reached on both ends. Even when everything feels like it’s slightly wrong, this is always the same, always good, always perfect.

Still, Levi really doesn’t want to spend the night listening to Nico complaining about how much his back hurts, so he fights the hold Nico has on his chest and sits up, twisting around to fully face him.

“I fucking love you, Nico Kim,” Levi says before leaning in and kissing him again. “That’s about all I know for sure right now.”

The doorbell rings right as Nico replies, so he just grins happily and shoots Levi a kiss, lying back in a less than subtle way that means he’s silently asking Levi to go answer the door. Levi rolls his eyes and pushes himself up, shuffling down the hallway to the front door.

“Oh,” is how the delivery man greets him. “Isn’t Nico home?”

“Yeah, he’s in the other room,” Levi answers distractedly as he looks for his wallet in the backpack sitting at his feet. “Do you need me to get him?”

“No, he’s just usually the one to come out to get the food,” the man shrugs. “Do you… live here?”

Levi chuckles, handing over the money and taking the pizza boxes, propping them on his hip. “Kind of.”

The delivery man nods, pockets the money, then nods with a tight smile. “Alright, then. Have a good night. Say hi to Nico for me.”

“Will do,” Levi waves with his free hand.

The door closes between them and Levi chuckles to himself, shaking his head as he heads back into the living room.

There’s a quick, passing moment in which he realises that this could be what his everyday life looks like, that this place could actually be his as well, and he’s the only one standing between it and himself. The fluttering in his stomach tells him that he doesn’t really have that much thinking to do.

“I think the delivery guy has a crush on you,” he announces as soon as the couch comes into view.

Nico looks up from his phone, expression alarmed. “He does not.”

Levi raises both eyebrows as he unceremoniously drops the boxes on the coffee table. Nico helps him by moving some of the clutter to the side, still looking confused.

“He absolutely does, but it’s okay,” Levi shrugs. “He says hi.”

They sit back, each of them with a piece of pizza in their hands. They chew quietly for a couple of seconds, then Levi sneaks a look to the side and finds Nico to be already looking back at him.

A breathy laugh rushes out of them both. Levi knocks their shoulders together and Nico gently digs his elbow into his side. For the thousandth time in just a few hours Levi feels thoroughly comfortable and sure that he made the best decision he could. There are a couple more he still has to make, but he’ll figure it out in due time.

For now, he’s home.

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know if this made any sense to anybody who isn't inside my head, but in case it did... I am in love with the feeling the episode gave me and I hope I was able to translate it into this fic. If you did enjoy it, let me know with a comment or on [Tumblr](https://shesbreathless.tumblr.com/)!


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